Up in Beverly Hills on Sunday afternoon it will be open house at the new neighbours'. Glamorous film stars and music moguls will mingle around the pool while David Beckham, Major League Soccer's main attraction, attempts to find common ground with his new team-mates. Some, not many, of the players will be at home amid the glitz and glamour. The majority will be pinching themselves at the company they now keep.

Much has been made of whether the former England captain would settle to life in Los Angeles, though it remains to be seen whether the Galaxy are ready for the Beckhams. The 32-year-old was presented to a wide-eyed dressing room at the Home Depot Center last Friday. Since then an ankle problem sustained in Spain has limited Beckham's ball-work to close-range kickabouts with the other players recovering from injury. "I got to work with him and he's a really down to earth guy," said Kyle Veris. "It's nice to have him as part of the team."

Veris is in his final year as a developmental player with the Galaxy, a rookie who joined the club straight from Ohio State university as the equivalent of a British YTS scholar. Beckham is guaranteed some $6.5m (£3.2m) over his first year in the MLS. Veris, a powerful central defender, has represented the first-team regularly and earns $17,700-a-year (£8,600), $100 less than his new team-mate collects in a single day. Indeed, he has found himself having to seek financial support from his parents as he waits on his pay cheque.

"We accept him for what he is, and it's just an honour to play with the man," said Veris. "It's all jokes in our locker room. Nobody takes anything too seriously. We want to gel and become like a big group of friends, to have a few barbecues and all just hang out to become a nice group, so the wage thing is not an issue. There's no jealousy. I've been watching him from his young days at Manchester United so, for me, it's just an honour to be in the same team."

"I don't go to my parents as much as I could. It's really more about budgeting, but the [Galaxy] organisation also helps me with paid appearances around the city. Going to my parents is my last resort if I'm stretching it before the next cheque, but this is my last year on a development contract so I'm just trying to keep playing and stay healthy."

"Nobody cares about the money," said Landon Donovan, whose locker is next to Beckham's in a part of the changing room now christened "Rodeo Drive". "When he shows up and plays, and does what we know he can do, nobody will care."

The Galaxy players have been anticipating Beckham's arrival for five months. Now that he is here, they have been surprised by the superstar in person. Veris described him as "very humble". Peter Vagenas apparently felt encouraged enough to stride up to his fellow midfielder and ask: "Who are you again?"

"Any time you're introduced, especially to a player on his level, there's always an awkwardness," said Donovan. "People don't want to say too much, there's a shyness. But he's kept quiet, he has just gone and done his thing. People talk to him and he engages them, he's got better about being part of it all."

"It's funny but when we first met him, Ante Jazic, our left-back, turned to me and said: 'God, he's pretty in person,' " added the goalkeeper Joe Cannon. "It was a little bit surreal because he was in a suit there next to the coaching staff, surrounded by officials from AEG [Anschutz Entertainment Group, Galaxy's owners]. It was a moment we'd been waiting for for so long, and so much had been made of it, but he came across well.

"I'd assume that he'll have his own room on trips. That would probably be best. Let's be honest, and I don't want to sell out my team-mates, but if someone was to say: 'Hey, just take a photo of him in the shower and I'll give you, like, a million dollars ...' Well, you know? No, I think it would be better if he had his own room.

"The most important thing is for us to try and enjoy all this. We don't get this exposure unless Beckham's here, so let's try and enjoy it. Everyone's so worried about what all this means for the future of soccer in this country. Well, if we spend our time worrying about that, we'll not enjoy what's actually happening."